German consumer confidence drops ahead of tax raise

German consumer confidence has dropped from recent highs amid concerns that an imminent increase in value-added tax (VAT) could hurt the purchasing power of shoppers in Europe's biggest economy, a survey showed on Friday.

The GfK research group said on Friday that its consumer climate index for January fell to 8.7 points from 9.2 in December. The index reached a five-year high of 9.3 in November.

The Nuremberg-based group attributed the drop of consumer confidence mainly to an increase in VAT, from 16 percent to 19 percent from Jan. 1, which will prompt a jump in the prices of cars, fuel, appliances and homes.

Consumers obviously perceive the imminent rise in VAT, a move designed to curb Germany's budget deficit, "as a huge burden on their purchasing power," GfK said in a statement.

"This situation is exacerbated by higher health care and pension contributions as well as the abolition of tax benefits," it said.

The GfK group's forward-looking indicator is based on around 2, 000 interviews with consumers each month.

Source: XinhuaHONG KONG -- Hong Kong stocks on Friday weakened 37.19 points, or 0.19 percent, to close at 19,964.72 on Friday.

HANOI -- Vietnam's stock market index, VN-Index declined 2.04 points, or 0.27 percent, to 751.77 on Friday, with 146.161 billion Vietnamese dong (VND) (nearly 9.14 million U.S. dollars) worth of shares and investment certificates being traded.

A total 3,737,900 shares worth 126.037 billion VND (roughly 7. 88 million dollars), and 315,620 investment fund certificates totaling 20.123 billion VND (nearly 1.26 million dollars) changed hands at the Ho Chi Minh City Securities Trading Center on Friday.

COLOMBO -- Share prices on the Colombo Stock Exchange closed down on Friday, with the key Colombo All Share Price Index decreasing by 17.72 points or 0.65 percent to close at 2,722.36 points.

The highly capitalized Milanka Price Index also decreased by 30. 82 points or 0.82 percent to close at 3,711.80 points.

A total turnover of 431 million rupees (about 4.03 million U.S. dollars was recorded during the day with a volume of 8.2 million shares being traded.

SINGAPORE -- The shares prices in Singapore closed at another record high on Friday with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) rising 22.3 points to end at 2,985.8 points, surpassing the Thursday's record of 2,963.5.

The overall volume stood at 1.84 billion shares worth 1.25 billion Singapore dollars (about 815.7 million U.S. dollars).

CANBERRA -- The Australian stock exchange market closed at new record high Friday, the last trading day of the year, as the benchmark S&P/ASX200 firmed 9.4 points to a record 5,669.9, up 19 percent over the year, while the all ordinaries rose 10.3 points to a record 5,644.3, up 19.8 percent.

Market turnover was 825 million shares worth 1.9 billion Australian dollars (1.5 billion U.S. dollars), with 661 stocks up, 444 down and 345 unchanged.

BANGKOK -- The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index on Friday moved down 0.52 points to close at 679.84 points.

Some 1.35 billion shares worth 9.27 billion baht (about 257.5 million U.S. dollars) changed hands.

SHANGHAI -- The Composite Stock Index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange closed at 2,675.47 points on Friday, up 107.88 points from the previous close.

Total Turnover:

61,037,340,000 yuan.

SHENZHEN -- The Component Stock Index on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 6,647.14 points on Friday, up 210.85 points from the previous close.

Total Turnover: 27,041,740,000 yuan.

KUALA LUMPUR -- The Malaysia stock market ended the year higher on Friday follow-through buying support.

The 100-quality-stock Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose by 7.39 points to close at 1,096.24 after opening at 1,089.28.

Turnover surged to 995.01 million shares worth 1.17 billion ringgit (325 million U.S. dollars) compared with 836.32 million shares worth 960.72 million ringgit (266.87 million U.S. dollars) on Thursday.